HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



refine the tastes of his children. I am not 

 writing in any spirit of sentimental romantic- 

 ism. If Arcadia and its pastorals have gone 

 by (and I think they have), God, and nature, 

 and sunshine, have not gone by; nor yet the 

 trees, and the flowers, or green turf, or a thou- 

 sand kindred charms, which the humblest 

 farmer has in his keeping, and may spend 

 around his door and homestead, with such 

 simple grace, such affluence, such economy of 

 labor, such unity of design, as shall enchain 

 regard, ripen the instincts of his children to a 

 finer sense of the bounties they enjoy, and 

 kindle the admiration of every intelligent ob- 

 server. 



A neglect of these attractions, which are so 

 conspicuous along all the by-ways of England, 

 and in many portions of the continent, is at- 

 tributable perhaps in some degree to the unrest 

 of much of our rural population. The man 

 who pitches his white tent beside the road, for 

 what forage he may easily gather up, and is 

 ready always for a sale, will care little for any 

 of the more delicate graces of home. And 

 with those who have some permanent establish- 

 ment, I think the root of the difficulty may lie 

 very much in that proud and sensitive individ- 

 uality which is the growth of our democratic 



3" 



